Held as one the most important German composer before J.S Bach; eulogized by his German colleagues as the “Orpheus of our time” and “the father of our modern music”; known best for his sacred vocal music. This gifted maestro who attracted many souls through his compositions was a man named Heinrich Schütz. Heinrich Schütz is one of the most important composers of the 17th century, who greatly influenced German music. Schütz’s musical talent was discovered at a young age, which developed into an extensive musical career. Furthermore, Schütz’s compositions can be seen to have the influence of Giovanni Gabrieli and Monteverdi, and a focus on sacred music. Moreover, Heinrich Schütz’s piece “Miene Seele Erhebt Den Herren” really exposes his type of style and uniqueness as a composer.
Heinrich Schütz’s musical talents have been unveiled at a young age, and developed into an extensive musical career. Arbor (1990, par.2) states (Arbor 1990) that, “At the age of four his musical talent attracted the attention of Landgrave Moritz of Hessen-Kassel, who persuaded Schütz’s parents to send him to his court for further education in music and art.” After carrying on as a choirboy, he moved on to study law at the University of Madbury before his studies with Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice from 1609 to 1613. Two years later, after his brief duty as an organist at Kassel, he moved to Dresden to work as a composer at the electoral court of Saxony. There, his duty was to provide music for court ceremonies that were major, and supervise the choirboys’ musical education. Walker (1992, 1253) states that, “Everyone knew Schütz was a respected teacher whose students included such important musicians such as Christopher Bernhard, Matthias W...
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...ssage that the music is trying to convey. All in all, it is clear that Schütz’s piece “Miene Seele Erhebt Den Herren” legitimately gratifies and discloses his style and uniqueness as a composer.
Ultimately, Heinrich Schütz is one the most important composers of the 17th century, who influenced German music greatly. Schütz’s musical talent was discovered at a young age, which then evolved into a substantially long musical career. Moreover, Schütz’s compositions can be seen to have the influence of Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, and a focus on sacred music. Furthermore, Heinrich Schütz’s piece “Miene Seele Erhebt Den Herren” really captivates and exposes his type of style and uniqueness as a composer. Finally, Schütz’s impact on German music during the 17th century would place him as one of the most important composers during that period.
Janice B. Stockigt, Jan Dismas Zelenka, 1679 – 1745: A Bohemian Musician at the Court of Dresden (Oxford, 2000)
Wanger lived in a reactionary and unsettled time, this restlessness is given a creative voice in his music and the condition of the romantic era man, removed from nature and isolated from communion with humanity is expressed in all of his music but especially in his operas. The morality of Wagner’s work has always been controversial, at best thought a work of a clearly flawed and tortured genius and at worst it is suspected to be steeped in subtle but deep racial hatred. For the purposes of this article I will present Wagner’s taking them at face value, without examining the theory stating that Anti-semitism was inherent to Wagner’s operas. I will use Wagner’s music drama Parsifal as the lens through which we can frame Wagner’s early operas and follow the themes of development to his mature style in this his final opera. Examining Wanger’s developments to music especially as regards the genesis of the music drama and how this contribution changed opera forever. His artistic reform, though not executed to the last detail, accelerated the trend towards organically conceived, through-composed structures, as well as influencing the development of the orchestra, of a new type of singer, and of various aspects of theatrical practice.
In 1808, Schubert enrolled at the Stadtkonvikt, a school that trained young vocalists for church and court, with a scholarship that gave him a spot at the court’s chapel choir. At the school, he was taught by Wenzel Ruzicka, the imperial court organist, and Antonio Salieri, highly esteemed composer who venerated Schubert’s talents in music. Salieri adored Schubert and his skills as a musician that he is known to have said, “He knows everything already, he said; he has been taught by God.” (Wechsberg) Then, in 1812, Schubert’s voice broke, which resulted in his forced leave...
Joseph Haydn was a composer born in Rohrau, Austria in 1732. He was the son of a wheel maker, whom taught himself how to play harp on an amateur and recreational basis. His family was musically inclined and Haydn was immersed in music since his early childhood as they made it a family affair to sing together and at times even along with neighbors. His father appreciated Haydn’s fine vocal ability and recognized that Rohrau was not an ideal place for Haydn to develop his musical skills. He was fostered under the care of their relative Johann Matthias Frankh at his request around the age of six, never to return home. Frankh was a schoolmaster and choirmaster in Hainburg. It was under Frankh’s care that he grasped the rudiments of music and was able to learn how to play the violin and the clavier. Karl Georg Reutter, choirmaster at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, also appreciated his singing. Reutter scouted Haydn as a choirboy and took him to Vienna, where he stayed for the next nine years and earned himself tuition in violin, clavier, and in singing. Haydn’s voice naturally “broke” around 1749 and was consequently dismissed by St. Stephens, leaving him penniless and homeless in the streets of Vienna. He couldn’t have been any place better in the world being a broke musician than in Vienna, where aristocratic families demanded fine musicians for their courts. He freelanced taking several odd jobs to scrape by; he mentored children, played violin for street bands and took the time to teach himself composition. He made a name for himself and first caught the attention of Count Ferdinand Maximillian von Morzin in 1759 and thus gained steady employment at his court. His tenure there was short-lived and the Count’s orchestra disbande...
In this essay I am going to be looking at Richard Wagner’s most Influential Opera’s “ Der Ring Des Nibelungen” also known as ‘The ring Cycle.' This cycle is made up of four operas.It begins with the beginning of the world and ends with the fall of the world. This piece begins as a mythic story and ends with modern humanity. This work in total is sixteen hours in length.I will be looking at the story behind the first opera or introduction entitled ‘Das Rheingold,' as well as his use of motifs and his use of development throughout the opera. The aim of this essay is to give a brief understanding of the complexity of western music in the 1800s.
To conclude, these three revolutionary composers that I have analysed in this essay brought so many levels and layers to ‘Modern Music’. With their contributions Modern era was disconnected from romanticism. Without Debussy’s unique, enjoyable compositions, Stravinsky’s rhythmic and dynamic layers and new ideas, Schoenberg’s creative theories and revolutionary 12 tone system one can not think of a Modern era.
The performance also featured four superb solos and duets by Schütz, Schein and Bach. Many of the vocal solos and duets were created during the Thirty Years War, when the size of the choir recorded drastically. The angelic voice of these young boys echoed in the chapel. Soprano Elias Unger, a ten-year-old boy, sang Bach’s “Gott lebet noch” with a silvery and tender voice, and Nathanael Vorwergk delivered an elegant rendering of the composer’s “Dir, dir Jehova, will ich singen,” accompanied by a soft continuo from the cellist and organist.
Compared to Mozart’s Sonata K.330, this work is longer and more energetic at some parts. Mozart’s K.330 has a lot of fast-tempo and dotted melodies, which gives the peice a brisk feeling, but does not show many manipulations of strong harmonies as Schumann’s work does. Unfortunately, our textbook does not include piano music composed by Schumann, we should compare Fantasiestucke, Op.12 with other piano music our textbook has. The Fantasiestucke, Op.12 has several sections, some of which are smooth and delicate, yet others are very exciting. The entire peice shows some typical features of Schumann’s style. It is obvious that Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.27, No.2 Moonlight forms a huge contrast against many climax sections in Fantasiestucke, Op.12. Moonlight has delicate, singing melody that moves slowly. It uses a rather soft dynamics to express the tranquility of moonlight. Another examples is Chopin’s Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op.24 No.4. Altough the Mazurka has wider range, dancelike dotted rhythms, rubato expression and much chromaticism, still does not have that much excitement compared to Fantasiestucke, Op.12. In Fantasiestucke Op.12, Schumann not only implemented the strong dynamic and intense tempo, but wrote some rather soft sections as transitions. Those characteristics examplify Schumann’s music style: impassioned melodies, novel changes of harmonies and driving rhythms that reveal him as a true Romantism composer. Lydia has carried out such experience in high
The development of the style of music during the renaissance can be traced back to the genres of importance to the music composers of that time. Sacred vocal music in the 15th century had two genres known as the Mass and motet the composers of this time cultivated these genres intensely. The ...
Johannes Brahms, a striking individual of unmistakable character, is defined by his compositions as meticulous and enlightened. His comprehensive grasp on classical and baroque form, with his familiarity of counterpoint and musical development, allowed him to effortlessly traverse and cultivate upon the musical architecture laid out by the likes of Bach and Beethoven. Born in Hamburg in 1833, he was the son of Johann Jacob Brahms, who travelled from North Germany, in which the family name “Brahms(t)” propagated (Musgrave 4). His father, being a musician by profession, instigated Brahms into his own domain of music. With Brahms’ first instruments being the violin, cello and the natural horn (predecessor of the French horn), it was discovered that the genius possessed absolute pitch and had also developed a system of notation on his own even before formal introductions into music (Musgrave 9).
This project lets us know the sonata form was the popular form in the classical period. Analyze the music materials in Mozart’s horn pieces let us figure out the way that Mozart composed. The horn concerti that Mozart composed were interesting because even Mozart used some mocked word to Joseph Leutgeb; these concertos still are the compact music. Currently, the numbers of Mozart’s horn pieces were different because Köchel used the started time to number them that was not using the finished time that people always thought. Mozart’s works still finding out anywhere nowadays, so this list of Köchel catalogue still will be changed in the future. No matter in past or today, the Köchel catalogue of Mozart’s compositions still is an important research because, without him, we perhaps cannot find or organize these Mozart’s works clearly and
Johann Sebastien Bach and George Frideric Handel are two composers from the Baroque Era; an era of bizarreness and extravagance, characteristics that are evident with their music. These two composers are immortalized by the music they have done, those of which that have made an impact in the way that we perceive music today as a society. Bach and Handel have served as a blueprint for the composers after them just as their predecessors did during their time, they are composers that will surely be remembered by future generations to come. Their body of work will remain engraved in history until the end of time.
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
Historical. This brilliant composition is considered as one of the two most important violin concertos of the German Romantic period, with Mendelssohn’s vi...
Arnold Schoenberg was one of the greatest musical influences of the mid 20th Century. He was born on September 13, 1874, to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria (Schoenberg 1). Schoenberg was a young Jewish man during World War I (WWI) living in Berlin. He was directly affected by the invasion of the Nazis. In 1933, he had to leave Berlin and desert his faith for Lutheranism later on taking on the faith of Judaism. At the early age of eight, he began violin lessons and almost immediately started composing music (Schoenberg 1). He was self-taught until the age of 10 when he began formal training (Schoenberg 1). He earned a living by orchestrating operettas, directing a cabaret orchestra, and teaching. Schoenberg influenced the music and art of the western culture in numerous ways. Some of the most successful composers were his students. These students were molded by Schoenberg and directly absorbed his knowledge and style. Schoenberg created different rhythms and tunes that were passed along to his students and other composers. He was able to catch the attention of a multitude through his writings, music, paintings, and post cards. This variety of talent gathered a larger audience and catered to their needs. Being that Schoenberg often traveled and taught at his destination, he was well known throughout the world and influenced many.